RULE # 56: HAVE A BACK-UP PLAN

Hints

Dara was contemplating the thought of throwing a tomato at Durami if she smirked at her again. Swear. The moment she had stepped inside the house with Ji Yong in tow, her youngest sister had painted on such an irritatingly smug smile, she wanted a hole to eat her up.

And she was sure too that Ji Yong had seen it.

“What could he be thinking?” she thought to herself as she watched him dicing carrots on the other side of the table, completely opposite her. He had been like a boyfriend throughout the whole morning. He looked after her, talked and joked around with her, held her hand as they both pushed the shopping cart, and took all the bags in his hand as they headed for his car. She’d never particularly liked shopping in the grocery because it somehow made her sleepy but how do you feel sleepy when your blood seems to be speeding through your system at top speed? The man had that effect on her.

Sensing that she had been looking at him, he suddenly looked up at her and smiled. Taken aback, she tried to pretend that she had just passed her eyes at him and wasn’t staring at all. Ji’s smile widened at er reaction and he went back to dicing.

From the corner of her eyes, Dara again saw Durami smirk and she picked up one tomato.

Durami, knowing what her sister was up to only widened her eyes at her as if to say “Come on! Let’s see you throw that at me and I’ll tell Ji Yong everything.”

Pouting her lips at the challenge, Dara lifted the knife she was using and mimicked slithing Durami’s throat later.

“Noona, what are you doing?” Sanghyeun commented as he walked in with Dami, Ji Yong’s older sister.

“Ow!” Dara exclaimed, immediately putting down the knife “I – I was just making faces at Durami.”

“Hi Girls!” Dami greeted “Thought I could give a hand here as Sanghyeun and I already finished decorating the garden.”

“You did?” Dara jumped up from her seat and tried to look through the back door.

“You won’t appreciate it yet” Dami told her “When the night comes, we’ll put on the lights we installed and you’ll see it’s going to be a magical place.”

“That’s great!” Durami commented, following suit after Dara and looking through the back door “And yep. It will look magical at night coz you wrapped around lights on all the trees.”

Dami nodded enthusiastically “We also wrapped lights around some of the branches and left them hanging. It’ll look wonderful tonight.”

“Grandma’s going to be really happy” Sanghyeun told his sisters “Dami-noona also had a mini-fountain put up in the middle of the table and there’d be lines of lights around the whole garden.”

“Thank you for this Dami” Dara faced her “Umma and I wouldn’t have thought of doing this.”

Dami smiled and put an arm around her shoulder “We’re practically family so you don’t need to thank me. And tonight’s going to be really special so we have to make everything look beautiful.”

Dara smiled back at that but felt that Dami was talking about something else entirely other than her Grandma’s birthday celebration. She looked away and found her eyes met Ji Yong’s.

He winked at her with a smile much like Durami’s and then came back to dicing.

Dara gulped.

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What it comes down to

“When are you going to talk to Mai?” Danny asked Teddy as they took a breather from the morning work-out. They had met at the elevator an hour ago and both decided to go to the company gym to start their day right.

However, Danny’s question might just ruin that plan.

“We talk” Teddy answered evasively.

“You know what I mean bro.”

Teddy stood up from sitting at the bench press and stretched his arms out. Was he really going to answer that question? “You’re not normally nosy Danny.”

“I’m not normally this worried” the other guy replied immediately, massaging his eyes to further emphasize his statement.

“As I said, we talk. What is it that you worry about?”

Danny kept his eyes close as he began breathing exercises. “You guys don’t talk about what’s important.”

“And what’s supposed to be important?”

If looks could kill, Teddy knew that Danny might have done in him with his glare.

“I can’t talk to her about that man.”

“You can’t?!? Or you won’t?”

Teddy took a deep sigh and lowered his head towards his hands. “It’s too early for this kind of talk.”

“No Bro” Danny put a hand on his shoulder “It’s actually already too late.”

Raising his face in confusion, Teddy looked at Danny searchingly. “What do you mean?”

“I wish I could tell you but… only Mai can” Danny looked away from him and up the ceiling “I’m not even supposed to give you a thing like this to think about and I know she’ll be furious when she finds out but I can’t hold it in any longer.”

“What are you talking about man??? I can’t understand a thing” Teddy asked him again, his confusion growing with every passing minute.

“Talk to Mai Teddy” Danny answered, covering his face with a towel “Go to her will you? Just go to her coz God knows… she needs you more than anybody else right now.”

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Very Serious Talk

Ji Yong looked at Gaho earnestly. “You know she’s scared of you right?”

The dog seeming to understand bowed its head against one of its towels.

“This is going to be harder than I thought”, Ji Yong told himself.

“What are you talking about with Gaho?” Mrs. Kwon, who had a basket of fresh laundered clothes, opened the door to his room and was now giving him a smug look.

“Umma!” Ji Yong exclaimed, turning to face his mother “Why didn’t you knock?!? I could have been or something!”

“Young man!” his mother admonished “What do you think would shock me with whatever you look like?!? I’m your mother for Pete’s sake!” She then proceeded to go inside his room and put down the basket that had several of his clothes. “So… who’s scared of Gaho?”

Blushing red to his roots, Ji looked back at his dog and then up his mother again before finally answering… “Dara.”

“Well… you have to admit… Gaho can be pretty scary” his mother responded.

“Gaho’s not scary” he replied defensively “but… I mean Dara’s scared of dogs… in general.”

“Ow!”

“I don’t really know why she is but she gets scared of their bark and she turns white as a sheet even at the sight of small puppies… though, she did get to be around Gaho once. When I had the fever, the both of them seemed to go along smoothly but I still can’t be sure.”

“Why don’t you ask her about it?”

“Umma! Of course she’d say she wouldn’t care about it but I’d know that she would. I promised Grandma Park I’ll make her happy and if it means I would have to let go of Gaho then –“

“You’re being foolish!” his mother cut him off and walked towards him until she was firmly positioned in front of him “You listen to me and you listen to me very well young man because I don’t want to have to tell you again… that young girl there” and she pointed at the room right across his window “really cares about you even if she doesn’t say it out loud. I knew that when she called me up when you were flaming up with fever and I knew that when she allowed you to go on with your scheme of pretending not to know her from before.”

“Umma!”

“I do! There is nothing much you can hide from me and that’s what mothers always are, we’re nosy and thank God we are because a lot of you children will keep on being silly!” Mrs. Kwon answered “Now! I know you! You are my son and though it is good sometimes… you overthink everything so much when the only thing you need to do is just walk up to Dara and tell her how you feel. Stop with all this thinking of how it’s going to be afterwards and this letting go of Gaho foolishness! You haven’t even done what you need to do!”